History

Ferdinand Magellan was the first explorer to visit the coasts of the provinces in 1520. Priest Nicolás Mascardi founded the JesuitmissionNuestra Senora de Nahuel Huapi in 1670 at the shore of the Nahuel Huapi Lake, at the feet of the Andes range.

By the beginning of the 19th century, many settlements such as San Carlos de Bariloche, General Roca and Choele Choel were already constituted and received French and German immigration, and other such as Cipolletti, Ingeniero Huergo and others installed in the Alto Valle (Upper Valley) region. Soon the production of fruits became the main economical activity, and the railway connected the Alto Valle with the ports on the Atlantic Ocean.